Data from: More than iso/anisohydry: hydroscapes integrate plant water‐use and drought tolerance traits in ten eucalypt species from contrasting climates

The iso/anisohydric continuum describes how plants regulate leaf water
potential and is commonly used to classify species drought response
strategies. However, drought response strategies comprise more than just
this continuum, incorporating a suite of stomatal and hydraulic traits.
Using a common garden experiment, we compared and contrasted four metrics
commonly used to describe water use strategy during drought in ten
eucalyptus species comprising four major ecosystems in eastern Australia.
We examined the degree to which these metrics were aligned with key
stomatal and hydraulic traits related to plant water use and drought
tolerance. Species rankings of water use strategy were inconsistent across
four metrics. A newer metric (Hydroscape) was strongly linked to various
plant traits, including the leaf turgor loss (TLP), water potential at
stomatal closure (Pgs90), leaf and stem hydraulic vulnerability to
embolism (PL50 and Px50), safety margin of hydraulic segmentation (HSMHS),
maximum stomatal conductance (gsmax) and Huber value (HV). In addition,
Hydroscape was correlated with climatic variables representing the water
availability at the seed source site. Along the continuum of water
regulation strategy, species with narrow Hydroscapes tended to occupy
mesic regions and exhibit high TLP, PL50 and Px50 values and narrow HSMHS.
High gsmax recorded in species with broad hydroscapes were also associated
with high HV. Despite a 4‐fold difference in Hydroscape area, all species
closed their stomata prior to the onset of hydraulic dysfunction,
suggesting a common stomatal response across species that minimises
embolism risk during drought. Hydroscape area is useful in bridging
stomatal regulation, hydraulic architecture and species drought tolerance,
thus providing insight into species water use strategies.